International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-4, Issue-2, Feb- 2017]

https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.4.2.4 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O)

Study on Chemical Treatments of Jute Fiber for

Application in Natural Fiber Reinforced
Composites (NFRPC)
Engr. Ojukwu Martins chubuike1, Chukwunyelu Christian Ebele2, Engr. Ilo Fidelis Ifeanyi3,
Ekwueme Solomon Okwuchukwu4, Orizu Eziafa Festus5
1,2,3,4,5
National Engineering Design Development Institute, Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria.

Abstract Research and studies on the use of natural
bers as replacement to man-made ber in ber-reinforced
composites have increased and opened up further industrial
possibilities. Natural bers have the advantages of low
density, low cost, biodegradability, recyclable, low
pesticide and thus environmentally friendly. However, the
main disadvantages of natural bers in composites are the
poor compatibility between ber and matrix and the relative
high moisture sorption. Therefore, chemical treatments are
considered in modifying the ber surface properties. In this
paper, the different chemical modications and treatments
on jute bers for use in natural ber-reinforced composites
are reviewed. Chemical treatments including alkali,
permanganate treatments and others are discussed. The
chemical treatment of ber aimed at improving the
adhesion between the ber surface and the polymer matrix
may not only modify the ber surface but also increase ber
strength. Water absorption of composites is reduced and
their mechanical properties are improved.
Keywords fiber-reinforced composites, natural ber,
chemical treatments, sodium hydroxide, and potassium
permanganate.

The Jute plant Jute fiber being dehydrated after retting

I. INTRODUCTION polyethylene (ldpe), polypropylene (pp), polyether ether

Processing of plastic composites using natural bers as
reinforcement has increased dramatically in recent years.
Fiber-reinforced composites consist of ber as
reinforcement and a polymer as matrix. Plastic polymers
including high density polyethylene (hdpe), low density
ketone (peek), etc. have been reported as the matrices.
Traditional ber-rein forced composites use various types of
glass, carbon, aluminum oxide, and many others as
reinforcing component. Natural bers, especially bast (bark)
bers, such as ax, hemp, jute, henequen and many others

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS)
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.4.2.4
were applied by some researchers as ber reinforcement for
composites in recent yea. Advantages of natural bers over
man-made bers include low density, low cost, recyclability
and biodegradability etc. These advantages make natural
bers potential replacement for glass bers in composite
materials. Mechanical properties of natural bers, especially
ax, hemp, jute and sisal, are very good and may compete
with glass ber in specic strength and modulus. Natural
ber-reinforced composites can be applied in the plastics,
automobile and packaging industries to cut down on
material cost. A better understanding of the chemical
composition and surface adhesive bonding of natural ber is
necessary for developing natural ber-reinforced
composites.
Natural bers are considered as potential replacement for
man-made bers in composite materials. Although natural
bers have advantages of being low cost and low density,
they are not totally free of problems. a serious problem of
natural bers is their strong polar character which creates
incompatibility with most polymer matrices. Surface
treatments, although having a negative impact on
economics, are potentially able to overcome the problem of
incompatibility. Chemical treatments can increase the
[Vol-4, Issue-2, Feb- 2017]
ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O)
interface adhesion between the ber and matrix, and
decrease the water absorption of bers. Therefore, chemical
treatments can be considered in modifying the properties of
natural bers. some compounds are known to promote
adhesion by chemically coupling the adhesive to the
material, such as sodium hydroxide, silane, acetic acid,
acrylic acid, maleated coupling agents, isocyanates,
potassium permanganate, peroxide, etc. fiber modi- cation
methods discussed in this paper have different efcacy in
causing adhesion between the matrix and the ber. Yet most
chemical treatments have achievedvarious levels of success
in improving ber strength, ber tness and bermatrix
adhesion in natural ber-reinforced composites.
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
(METHODOLOGY)
2.1 The materials used in this study were locally sourced at
Onitsha, Anambra State of Nigeria and they are include:
The jute fibers, which are used as the reinforcement, sodium
hydroxide (NaOH), Potassium permanganate (KMnO4)
solid and Acetone liquid are used for chemical treatments,
Digit weighing balance for measuring chemicals.
Materials used are shown in the diagram below:

Figure D Figure E Figure F

Figure D, Figure E and Figure F are Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) solid, Acetone liquid and sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
respectively for chemical process treatments of jute fibre

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-4, Issue-2, Feb- 2017]
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.4.2.4 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O)

Fig.1: Digit weighing balance for measuring chemicals

2.2 Extraction and Chemical Treatment of Jute Fibers
Jute fibers used in this work were sourced from the stem of
jute plant through a process called Retting. Some other
known retting processes include freshwater, saltwater and
green decortications and enzymes treatments (Das &Saema,
1988). The jute stem used in this study were soaked in
bucket of water (freshwater retting) with some
biodegradable material that will increase decomposing
organism thereby reducing the retting period to two month
instead of normal three months. After the retting process,
extracted fibers (jute stem) were separated and washed by
removing some residue in water until all slipperiness was
lost. The clean Jute fibers are spread to naturally dry in the
sun.

Jute fiber after retting

For proper fiber treatment to take place, suitable chemicals
are used depending on the kind of chemical treatment (Xue,
Lope & Satyanarayam 2007) being embarked on. In this
study, two major sets of chemicals were used for fibre
treatments. They include:
Aqueous Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) which is
prepared by dissolving Sodium Hydroxide Pellets
in water.
Potassium Permanganate (KMnO4) solution is
made by also dissolving Potassium Permanganate
(KMnO4) solid in Acetone liquid.
2.3 METHODS
2.3.1 Chemical treatments
The hydrophilic jute fiber is difficult to combine directly
with the hydrophobic polyester matrix in jute fiber
reinforced polyester composites. To bring about a
reinforcing effect, the surface of the jute fiber has to be
changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic by subjecting the

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS)
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.4.2.4
jute fiber to alkali treatment and permanganate treatment.
Alkali treatment, named also Mercerization, is a common
fiber treatment chemical method that is extensively used by
researchers (Hashim, Roslan, Amin, Zaidi&Ariffin, 2012;
Kalia, Kaith&Kaur, 2009).
The actual treatment of jute fiber taking place
2.4 Aim of chemical treatments.
The aim of the chemical treatment is to remove the weak
boundary layers of the natural fibers which are supposed to
protect the fiber particles but have no resistance to the alkali
attack. Chemical treatment of jute fiber lowers the water
absorption. Jute fibers were subjected to the surface
treatments, in order to improve Interfacial adhesion between
jute fiber and polyester resin matrix.
The chemical treatment of fiber is aimed at improving the
adhesion between the fiber surface and the polymer matrix.
Not only modify the fiber surface but also increase fiber
strength and reducing water absorption by composites
(increasing moisture resistance) & improving mechanical
properties of the composite materials. (Xue et al., 2007)
2.5 Kinds of chemical treatments for natural fiber
There are many kinds of chemical treatments/processing for
natural fiber namely: Alkaline treatment, Silane treatment,
Acetylation, Benzoylation, Acrylation& Acrylonitrile
Alkaline treated Jute Fiber
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Graphting Coupling agents, Isocyanate treatment,
Permanganate treatment, Peroxide treatment, Sodium
Chlorite treatment etc.
In this study, only two chemical treatments were conducted
on jute fiber namely:
Alkaline Treatment
Permanganate treatment
2.5.1 Alkaline Treatment
Alkaline treatment or mercerization is one of the most used
chemical treatments of natural fibers when used to reinforce
thermoplastics and thermo sets. This treatment removes a
certain amount of lignin, wax and oil covering the external
surface of the fiber cell wall and exposes the short length
crystallites.
The important modification done by alkaline treatment is
the disruption of hydrogen bonding in the network structure,
thereby increasing surface roughness. The treatment
changes the orientation of the highly packed crystalline
cellulose order, forming an amorphous region. It has been
reported that alkaline treatment has two effects on the fiber:
It increases surface roughness resulting in better
mechanical interlocking.
It increases the amount of cellulose exposed on
the fiber surface, thus increasing the number of
possible (Xue et al., 2008)
In alkalization, fibers were cut to 260 mm of length and
were soaked in a 5% aqueous NaOH solution at room
temperature maintaining a liquor ratio of 15: 1 for 12hours
for proper depolymerisation of cellulose, removal of lignin
and better strength of jute fiber. The fibers were then
washed several times with fresh water to remove any NaOH
sticking to the fiber surface. Fibers were neutralized with
dilute acetic acid and finally washed again with distilled
water afterwards the treated fibers were carefully spread on
mat and then finally air-dried.
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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS)
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2.6 Permanganate treatment
Permanganate is a compound that contained permanganate
group MnO4. Permanganate treatment leads to the
formation of cellulose radical through MnO3 ion formation
(Sivakumarbabu&Vasudevan, 2008). In this study, the
alkaline treated jute fibers were dipped in 50%
permanganate acetone solution for minutes with liquor ratio
15:1. Fibers were dried at 40 C for 5 hrs to remove
excessive solvent and moisture by spreading on mat and
then finally air dried. As a result of permanganate
treatment, the hydrophilic tendency of the jute fiber was
reduced, and thus, the water of JFRP composite decreased.
Measuring the quantity of the required sodium
hydroxide pellets and Potassium permanganate
(KMnO4) solid for permanganate treatments
Measuring the required quantity of alkaline water in ml
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Some quantity of Jute fiber prepared for chemical
treatments
Measuring the required quantity of Acetone liquid used for
Permanganate treatments.
III. RESULT, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
3.1 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
This study has shown that the chemical treatments
performed on natural fiber like Jute fiber is crucial in order
to improve the surface characteristics. It was discovered that
the weight of treated fiber was reduced to a large extent to
compare to the untreated one after the alkaline and
Permanganate treatment. The moisture content was
removed from the fiber increasing its strength. Chemical
treatments eliminate some portion of hemicelluloses, lignin,
pectin, wax and oil covering materials. Thus fiber surface
became more homogeneous due to elimination of micro
voids. Stress transfer capacity between alternate cell
improved and increase effective fiber surface area for good
adhesion with matrix. It decrease hydrophilic nature of fiber
by raising its cellulose content and stabilized the material.
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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS)
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IV. CONCLUSION
The purpose of this study was achieved which shows the
effects of chemical treatment on jute fiber for use in
fabrication of composites. Chemical treatments of natural
fiber have been highly beneficial and necessary to improve
surface characteristics and mechanical properties of
composites material. It has help to remove the weak
boundary layers of natural fibers and lowers water
absorption. The study has documented that the time of
soaking and the amount of chemical solution concentration
used for treatment will affect the properties of the produced
fibers. Based on this research and previous ones, it was
suggested that different concentrations ratio and treatment
times will tested on the jute fibers. It was also observed that
alkaline treated specimen indicated good improved in
impact strength of 20% when compared with untreated
fiber. Alkaline treated jute fibers reinforce epoxy composite
had better impact strength compared to other length.
Untreated jute resulted in low impact strength due to poor
interfacial bonding.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to express our profound gratitude to the
Management of National Engineering Design Development
Institute, (NEDDI) Nnewi, Nigeria for the opportunity
given to us to commence this research work that has just
started and my supervisor Engr.Dr.U.C Okonkwo for his
fatherly advice and immense contribution to the future
production of Local motorcycle Helmet.
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ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O)
[6] Das A.R $ Saema U.S, (1998). Application of
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Compounds and to improve retting of Jute, J.Sci.
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Fiber Reinforced Plastic Composites, Polymer
Engineering And Science, 2001, 41 (9), 1471-1485.
[8] Li, X., Tabil, T. G., Panigrahi, S., Chemical
Treatments of Natural Fiber for Use in Natural Fiber-
Reinforced Composites: A Review, Journal of
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[9] Singh, B., Verma, A., Gupta, M., Studies on
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[10] Tran, N.H, Ogihara, S $ Kobayashi, S. (n.d).
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[11] Samuel, O.D., Agbo, S., $ Adekanye, T.A (2012).
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